Feng Qingxue smiled faintly, "I regret to inform you, comrade Cao Hongzhu, that both comrade Lu Jiang and I have neither embezzled, accepted bribes, let alone involved in corruption. The phrase ’extravagance and waste’ has no relevance to our family. Accusing others requires adequate evidence to prove your allegation is true, not hearsay. Otherwise, you must bear the consequences of making false accusations."
As she spoke, her words were fierce and austere, her eyebrows were full of dignity, overwhelming enough to make many people present dare not breathe.
Cui Shaoyuan nodded in agreement, "Yes, we can substantiate comrade Feng Qingxue’s statement. Of course, we need to proceed with further investigations, to ensure the innocent are absolved, and the guilty severely punished."
Cao Hongzhu shrugged, "Say what you want, anyway, I can guarantee that those I’ve reported deserve severe punishment!"
"Hongzhu!" Upon hearing the news, Li Shuitian, the Director of the Political Department, rushed over immediately, grabbed his wildly behaving wife and dragged her away from Chen Ju. Chen Ju quickly clambered up and ran to Qi Gang’s side.
Qi Gang sighed deeply as he watched his wife clutch his sleeve. He didn’t shake her off but was apparently at a loss for a solution.
Bowing over, Li Shuitian kept apologizing to Feng Qingxue, "I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Ever since our child and her grandparents died, Hongzhu has been deeply affected and her behaviour has been abnormal. Plus, after the directives against embezzlement, theft, and extravagance were issued a couple of years ago, she has been fixated on whether others are corrupt or wasteful."
"That doesn’t give her the right to falsely accuse people, does it?" Feng Qingxue responded unhappily.
"I know, sister-in-law, I’m truly sorry." Li Shuitian gave a bitter smile, "I have told her that everything she does must be based on solid evidence, but sometimes she just can’t control herself and doesn’t heed my advice. As her husband, I’m willing to take full responsibility for what she’s done and bear the consequences of falsely accusing."
Li Shuitian’s words were final and decisive. For a moment, it seemed to Feng Qingxue as if she saw Zhu Rong.
Was there another Zhu Rong?
Just as she was about to speak, Lu Jiang, who had just returned to the camp leading a group of soldiers in a live exercise and was covered in mud without time to clean up, rushed over panting to Feng Qingxue, "Qingxue, I heard something happened at home? Everything okay? Xibao and Fubao are alright, right?" His eyes kept looking around, afraid to miss any harm his wife and child might have suffered.
"Daddy!" Xibao, not caring about the dirt, climbed up to him and hugged his neck.
"I’m fine, don’t worry." Feng Qingxue quickly assured.
Lu Jiang heaved a sigh of relief, saluted the officers whose ranks were higher than his, responded to the courtesy of the officers lower than him, and asked with a solemn face, "What exactly is going on? Since it involves my family, I have a right to know the full details, right?"
Zheng Xuefeng replied, "This has nothing to do with you two, you should take your wife and child home."
Even though they were the ones being falsely accused, Zheng Xuefeng did not want Lu Jiang and his wife to get involved in this mess - Cao Hongzhu’s allegations, Chen Ju’s deeds, and the matter with Dan Qingming were all complicated.
Lu Jiang paused, and Feng Qingxue said, "Well then, we’ll leave for now. I trust that our leaders will handle this fairly."
Cui Shaoyuan seriously replied, "Rest assured, comrades. We will not falsely accuse any innocent person, and we will not let any criminal go. Please await the good news!"